PPI Tech Job Index 2017: States

Tech and tech-enabled jobs are becoming increasingly important to many state economies–not just the tech hubs like California and Texas. Particularly important is the role of ecommerce, which is driving the creation of hundreds of thousands of tech-enabled electronic shopping and fulfillment center jobs around the country (for example, see here). Going forward, we expect tech-enabled manufacturing to help revive job growth in areas that were hit hit hard by the decline in factory jobs (for example, see here).

For this study, we define the PPI Tech Job Index for a state or local area as the increase in tech and tech-enabled jobs from 2010 to 2016, as a percentage of the total number of private sector jobs in that state or local area in 2010. Thus, the PPI Tech Job Index serves as a measure of the importance of tech growth to the economy of that state.

The industries that we include, and their NAICS codes, are listed below in Table 1. These include computer and electronics manufacturing, electronic shopping, software publishing, internet publishing and search, computer systems and programming, management and technical consulting, and the increase in warehousing jobs since 2007. As we have shown in earlier work, this last category picks up the growth of employment in ecommerce fulfillment centers, which do not yet have their own industry.

Table 1:

Tech and tech-enabled industries

334

Computer and electronics manufacturing

4541

Electronic shopping

5112

Software publishing

51913

Internet publishing and search

5415

Computer systems design and programming

5416

Management and technical consulting

493

Warehousing (change since 2007, reflects ecommerce fulfillment)

Table 2 below shows the top states, ranked by the PPI Tech Job Index. We can see Washington at the top, propelled by Amazon’s growth. And California, not surprisingly, is in the top 5. But the top 10 also includes states such as Utah, Tennessee, and Georgia, with North Carolina, Missouri, and Indiana not far behind. Utah’s high ranking is due to growth in computer systems design and programming, and electronic shopping jobs, while Tennessee showed strong gains in ecommerce, computer systems design and programming, and management and technical consulting. Missouri’s ranking came from gains in computer systems design and programming, while Indiana benefited from growth in ecommerce and computer systems design and programming. Massachusetts’ ranking is dragged down a bit because of the continuing decline of tech hardware jobs.

The conclusion: The economic impact of tech and tech-enabled jobs reaches across the entire country. We will shortly be publishing a more detailed study where we look at the PPI Tech Job Index for individual counties.

Table 2

PPI Tech Job Index: Top States

PPI Tech Job Index*

Tech jobs created, 2010-2016 (thousands)

1

Washington

3.4%

77.2

2

Utah

2.8%

26.2

3

California

2.1%

256.9

4

Tennessee

2.0%

42.2

5

South Carolina

1.9%

26.5

6

Texas

1.8%

146.7

7

Delaware

1.7%

5.7

8

Colorado

1.6%

29.0

9

Georgia

1.6%

49.0

10

North Carolina

1.6%

48.9

11

Missouri

1.5%

31.9

12

Massachusetts

1.5%

40.7

13

Indiana

1.5%

34.2

14

Oregon

1.4%

18.8

15

Minnesota

1.3%

28.3

16

Illinois

1.3%

58.9

17

Florida

1.2%

74.3

18

New York

1.2%

84.7

19

New Jersey

1.2%

38.3

20

Kentucky

1.2%

16.8

21

Virginia

1.2%

33.3

22

Pennsylvania

1.1%

53.5

23

Maryland

1.1%

21.1

24

Oklahoma

1.0%

11.8

25

Nevada

1.0%

9.7

*Change in tech and tech-related jobs from 2010 to 2016, as a percentage of total private sector jobs in 2010.